EXTRACTION AND RECYCLING OF METALS CHEMISTRY NOTES

EXTRACTION AND RECYCLING OF METALSMineral: Naturally formed material with definite chemical and physical properties such as composition or colour. It is crystalline solid that occurs in the earths crust.

Ore: A rock with one or more mineral content that contains enough of it to be profitable to mine. An ore is also chosen to be mined because it might be economically cheaper to extract and recycle.

Factors that determine the price of the mineral include: abundance and location of the ore of the mineral, cost of extracting and transporting the mineral or its ores.

A rock is a mixture of mineral grains or crystals solidified togetherThe main copper ores mines contain chalcopyrites (CuFe²) and other sulfides such as copper (II) sulfide (CuS) and copper(I) sulfide (Cu²S).

These sulfides provide most of the copper produced around the world and occupy deeper parts of deposits that have not been exposed to weathering.

Q13i. Aluminiumii. Magnesiumiii. Magnesiumb) The most common is not the cheapest because it is more expensive produce and to extract from its ore. In the case of Aluminium, it has to be crushed, treated chemically to extract aluminum oxide, then dissolved in molten cryolite and then electrolysis must be carried out.

c) Magnesium is less abundant than aluminium and is also more active. Therefore, more energy must be used in electrolysis of magnesium thus increasing costs.

Ability to recycle the metalMetal ores are non-renewable. We will run out of these ores when we have used up the earths resources. We need to use metal resources wisely and develop ways to recycle them. The easy of recycling determines the price to recycle. Copper and aluminium are both able to be recycled easily. Producing metals by recycling uses less energy and money. There are other techniques to prolong the metals life including, reducing corrosion so that metals last longer, using abundant metals, finding other materials for some uses.